It became apparent to me in the last 2 yrs that
the girl orphans in Career Development Educationa and Agriculture Support were
having big problems. Living with a guardian who is stretched to the limit, or
having no guardian at all, meant insufficient nutrition. For the girls it means
a lack of education in personal hygiene and how to care for themselves.
Increasingly I was taking young teens to my doctor for treatment. The girls
were using newspapers and any paper they could find to use as tampons. Many
complications resulted. This caused infection and a need for
treatment.
Girls were following advice from their peers.
It was not correct advice that they should be getting from elder women in their
family. For the orphan girls there was no guidance. So, Career Development
picked up another urgent need in their lives. We bought the underwear for girls
available in town and there wasn't enough.Two members of the staff, Sr. Aleta
Chimuti and Doreen,a laywoman (who is HIV+ and now a counselor), used our two
sewing machines to make underwear for the girls. We felt that this is an
emergency and it had to be done. So before Christmas we distributed over 125
sets of underpants and homemade pads for some of the girls in the hardest hit
areas of our work. This is one of those rare times when the girls really
smiled, were happy, and had many words of appreciation. This should be the
beginning of how they can properly care for themselves. It wasn't easy to make
the underwear. The right material was in short supply and elastic was a rare
commodity. But it was found, purchased and used. Presently it costs about one
u.s. dollar to make a pr. of underpants. (The Zunderwear provision #4imbabwe economy means that there
are increases in costs daily). Taking advantage of retreat and a break in South
Africa recently I brought back some elastic. Two days ago Sr. Aleta, Doreen and
I scoured Gweru for material and found enough to make about 40 prs of pants.
The shopowner said that a supply of material is due at an increased cost. It is
a commentary on our times: Don't take the simplest aspect of life for granted.
We will keep working on this necessity and help the girls to help
themselves.
